Southwest Meatballs with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce and Spaghetti Squash
Ingredients
- 1 medium Spaghetti Squash – 2-3lbs
For the meatballs
- 1 pound ground turkey
- ¼ small red onion, minced
- ½ red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ jalapeño, minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the sauce
- 1 avocado
- handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ jalapeño, minced
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- pinch of salt and pepper
- ¼ cup Primal Kitchen Avocado Mayo (this stuff is pricey, but amazing)
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8×8 glass baking dish with some oil (olive, coconut, etc.)
2) Place all ingredients for the meatballs into a bowl and use your hands to mix the mixture together.
3) Using a cookie scoop, scoop out each meatballs and form into balls. This should make about 18 small meatballs.
4) Place each meatball into the greased baking dish, side by side. It’s ok if they are touching.
5) Put in oven to bake for 20-25 minutes.
6) While the meatballs cook, create the dipping sauce by placing everything for the sauce, except for the mayo, into a food processor. Puree until smooth. Once smooth, add the mayo and puree once more until well combined.
Squash
1) Preheat the oven to 400°F: Preheat the oven while you prep the squash.
2) Slice the squash in half: Use a chef’s knife to cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise from stem to tail. Spaghetti squash are tough and hard, so be cautious and work slowly.
3) Scoop out the seeds: Use a soup spoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy bits of flesh from inside the squash.
4) Place the squash in a roasting pan: Place the squash halves cut-side down in a roasting pan.
5) Pour in a little water (optional): Pour a little water in the pan, enough to cover the bottom. Your squash will roast just fine without it, but I find that the water helps the squash steam and become more tender. You can also cover the pan with aluminum foil, if you prefer.
6) Cook the squash for 30 to 45 minutes: Transfer the squash to the oven and cook for 30 to 45 minutes. Smaller squash will cook more quickly than larger squash. Check the squash after 30 minutes to gauge cooking.
7) The squash is done when tender: The squash is ready when you can easily pierce a fork through the flesh all the way to the peel.
8) Scrape out the squash: Use a fork to gently pull the squash flesh from the peel and to separate the flesh into strands. The strands wrap around the squash horizontally — rake your fork in the same direction as the strands to make the longest “noodles.”